Compiled by PlainCollege, College outcomes data analysis
50
Schools
Master's
Credential Level
$91,446
National Avg Earnings
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for International/Globalization Studies
International/Globalization Studies is tracked across 50 U.S. postsecondary institutions in the College Scorecard field-of-study file, which links CIP code classifications from IPEDS to Treasury earnings records. This profile covers the master's credential level specifically, because the Department of Education reports program-level outcomes separately for associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral awards. The CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) taxonomy lets analysts roll up specialties into broader families, which is why earnings medians across schools can be compared on a common basis.
Across all reporting institutions, the mean of school-level medians is $91,446, calculated from 11 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $49,915 at the low end to $253,631 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $50,990 and $96,269 around a median of $81,832. The top-reporting institution in this program is University of Pennsylvania at $253,631. These numbers reflect Treasury-derived wages, deferred compensation, and positive self-employment earnings four years after completion for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completer counts and earnings cohort counts are distinct source fields, so the displayed completer count should not be assumed to be the earnings denominator. PlainCollege's debt-to-earnings ratio divides median federal debt by annual median earnings as a descriptive comparison; it is not the Department's formal gainful-employment test. Use the school-by-school table to compare reported outcomes while accounting for cohort size, suppression, program mix, and location.
Northeastern University Professional Programs accounts for 17.2% of all International/Globalization Studies master's credential graduates
That concentration — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share means International/Globalization Studies-wide averages can mask meaningful variation outside the largest entity, though the remaining entities individually still carry a share worth reading on their own. That school produced 114 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. Even a notable-but-not-dominant share like this is enough to skew a simple International/Globalization Studies-wide average away from what a typical smaller entity looks like.
International/Globalization Studies master's credential median earnings varies 5.1× across entities
International/Globalization Studies master's credential median earnings ranges from $49,915 (lowest) to $253,631 (highest), a spread of $203,716. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme earnings stratification across institutions, graduates of the same field can earn dramatically different starting salaries depending on the school’s reputation, regional employer mix, and selectivity. Earnings are measured four years after completion using Treasury-derived records for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled. They are descriptive early-career outcomes, not forecasts of longer-term earnings.
International/Globalization Studies master's credential median debt varies 2.9× across entities
International/Globalization Studies master's credential median debt ranges from $20,500 (lowest) to $58,474 (highest), a spread of $37,974. That spread reflects typical institutional cost differences, public in-state, public out-of-state, and private school financing models produce predictable spreads. Median debt counts only those students who borrowed federal loans, students who paid out-of-pocket or received institutional grants are excluded from the borrower median, which can flatter low-debt schools.
International/Globalization Studies debt-to-earnings ratio is 0.43 — low (typically associated with graduates earn substantially more than they borrowed, which is the College Scorecard standard signal for affordability, a ratio under 0.5 means a year of post-completion earnings would clear half the federal-loan principal)
debt-to-earnings ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: this ratio uses federal loan principal, not all education debt, private loans, parent PLUS loans not in the borrower’s name, and institutional debt are excluded Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
International/Globalization Studies operates only 50 institutions offer this program — among the most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most International/Globalization Studies institutions offer this program are specialty-program scarcity that concentrates national supply in a small set of institutions, graduates often command stronger employer attention because the talent pool is structurally narrower. Consolidation produces narrower variance because resources pool across larger populations, but it can also mask intra-institutions offer this program inequities — sub-institutions offer this program differences within a single institutions offer this program are not visible at this aggregation level. Consolidated systems typically rely more heavily on top-down funding formulas than on local revenue variability.
Earnings trajectory. For the 11 schools reporting both horizons, median earnings are
52% higher four years after completion than one year
after. That is the same graduates measured twice, not two different groups, so it
describes how pay develops early in the career rather than a difference between schools.
A school missing from this count reports only one horizon.
Awards and earnings come from different reference periods, so they are not a count and an
average of the same people. Awards is the number of credentials the school reported for the
latest IPEDS year; median earnings is measured four years after completion, for a separate
pooled cohort of earlier graduates. A school can therefore report zero awards in the latest
year and still have earnings on record. The earnings figure is not the awards figure’s
average, and the awards count is not the earnings sample size. Schools are ranked on the
four-year earnings figure only, so every row is compared on the same basis.
Compare beyond the CIP family
Nationwide peers by school count & four-year earnings
Cross-field programs at the same credential level nearest International/Globalization Studies on school-count breadth
(50 schools) and mean four-year median earnings ($91,446).
Peers exclude the same two-digit CIP family so neighborhoods are not CIP-containment siblings.
School-count peers include Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical Systems, Human Services, General, Library Science and Administration. Earnings peers include Public Policy Analysis, Security Science and Technology, Marketing.
Neighborhoods are forced disjoint so each axis surfaces a different set of programs.
Similar school count
Nearest programs (≥50 schools) by absolute school-count breadth, outside this CIP family.
How much do International/Globalization Studies graduates earn? ▼
International/Globalization Studies graduates earn $91,446 on average four years after completion, across the 11 of 50 schools that report earnings for this program. Earnings range from $49,915 to $253,631 depending on the institution.
Which school's International/Globalization Studies graduates earn the most? ▼
University of Pennsylvania has the highest reported median earnings for International/Globalization Studies graduates at $253,631, measured four years after completion in College Scorecard data. This reflects what graduates went on to earn, which depends heavily on who the school admits and which employers recruit there. It is not a figure the school pays.
What credential do you get in International/Globalization Studies? ▼
International/Globalization Studies programs typically award a Master's credential. Earnings vary by school and credential level.
Top Schools for International/Globalization Studies
Closest schools offering this program – compare earnings side by side
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file retrieved in March 2026. The program metric displayed here represents federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled four years after credential completion, using Treasury-derived records published through the Scorecard. Completer counts and debt figures come from the same field-of-study snapshot; the Department refreshes components on schedules documented in its changelog, not one fixed annual date.